Includes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.
Purchasable with gift card
name your price
about
The song Draft Dodger's been bouncing around inside my head and played off and on on guitar or ukulele the past million years. Growing up in BC, it wasn't uncommon to meet eccentric old guys who dodged the Vietnam draft by crossing the border from the US into Canada in the 60s-70s. In general, these guys flew in on the seat of their pants, lived by their wits, were mischievous and gregarious, eccentrics and side-hustlers who thrived on the margins.
Today, a Draft Dodger can be seen as a metaphor for any peace-loving person who refuses to buy into nationalism, cruelty, or participate in the kind of hysterical reactionary groupthink behaviour that one could claim is far too prevalent today. As we face a worldwide environmental crisis, a global pandemic, crumbling infrastructures, the return of fascist ideologies, runaway corruption and economic inequality, now more than ever we can come together to push back against the forces of darkness. Perhaps our future survival starts with all us being a lot nicer to each other from now on. Open our hearts and minds so love can find a way.
There have been many different versions of this song, and I finally started recording parts of what you hear today on electric ukulele and bass in the summer of 2016. Soon after, I met up with drummer Ron "Frankie" Teardrop in his basement bunker in Vancouver where he nailed it with a shuffle beat. A few weeks later we jammed with Colin McLaine in his East Van shed, where he smacked down extra crunch on electric guitar. Drums were played by Phil Western in late 2017. I got super busy with other stuff and put the track on the back burner until adding the 'rough guy' chorus vocals and re-recording a guitar track in the summer of 2019. For the sake of brevity, I chopped out the funk bridge middle section and an extended guitar freak-out from before the end. Finally, Draft Dodger was let out onto the playground. We hope you enjoy it!
lyrics
DRAFT DODGER
Runnin' from the police, run from helicopter
Draft dodger yeah
Fishing in your river, chasin' your daughter
Draft Dodger yeah
When chaos hit you upside of the head
Don’t you know you’re either quick or you’re dead?
Draft Dodger - run for cover
Across the border into northern lands
We’ll maybe take you baby but - but -- you better behave
Before you cross the border throw your guns on the ground
He’s a runaway slave with the soul of a beaver
A green grass growin’, chicken chokin’ smoke eater
Now she won’t sell the Rail for the kickback cash
Or get . . . crushed by a wave of invisible trash
Draft Dodger from the shark-infested waters
He won’t sell his mother or say “I love big brother”
Wild justice – got a hold
Draft dodger - can’t be sold
High five Fidel and Pete Trudeau
C’mon baby let’s Calypso --
Step child lets Rock and Roll
Right now
Right now
Draft Dodger, he’s a Draft Dodger
Draft Dodger, yeah
Runnin' from the police, run from helicopter
Draft Dodger, yeah
Fishing in your river, chasin' your daughter
Draft Dodger, yeah
Won’t be paying taxes, won’t be cannon fodder
Draft Dodger, yeah
Draft Dodger, he’s a Draft Dodger
Draft Dodger, yeah
Draft Dodger, he’s a Draft Dodger
Draft Dodger, yeah
Some will always tow the line
Chickens are in their prime
Waiting on the roosting line
They wanna get back in time
To the Golden Age . . . that never existed at all . . .
That never existed at all . . .
Draft Dodger
Draft Dodger
Draft Dodger
He’s got the blues by the balls
He’s got the blues by the balls
He’s got the blues by the balls
He wants a new waterfall
He wants a new waterfall
He wants a new waterfall
Draft Dodger
Draft Dodger
Draft Dodger
Lyrics & Music by AB Roberts
credits
released July 1, 2020
A B Roberts - guitars, bass, ukulele, singing, noise & etc.
Colin McLaine - guitar
Phil Western - drums
Ron "Frankie" Teardrop - shuffle beat
Produced by A B Roberts
Engineered by Phil Western
Mastered by Jamie Sitar
MARS LANDER rides waves of feedback ravaged guitars over throbbing melodic grooves, like a White Light White Heat-era Velvet
Underground crashing a Georgio Moroder house party, a swirling raveup at a British dance-hall, or a hallucinatory boat ride up the Mekong River....more
A compilation of rollicking cuts from this Australian post-punk band that plays like a hybrid of the Velvets and the Stooges. Bandcamp New & Notable Jun 3, 2017
Winter McQuinn mixes soft rock and psychedelic folk for a sound reminiscent of classic pop purveyors like Cut Worms and the Lemon Twigs. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 16, 2024
